Virtu Financial (VIRT) and The Competition Critical Contrast

Virtu Financial (NYSE:VIRT) is one of 1,744 publicly-traded companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Virtu Financial to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Virtu Financial and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Virtu Financial	1	2	4	0	2.43
Virtu Financial Competitors	5549	20118	22454	642	2.37

Virtu Financial presently has a consensus price target of $68.25, indicating a potential upside of 28.35%. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 22.90%. Given Virtu Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Virtu Financial is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Virtu Financial and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Virtu Financial	$3.63 billion	$468.36 million	8.83
Virtu Financial Competitors	$2.39 billion	$398.52 million	17.69

Virtu Financial has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Virtu Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Virtu Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Virtu Financial pays out 15.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.1% and pay out 30.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

45.8% of Virtu Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by institutional investors. 46.8% of Virtu Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Virtu Financial has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virtu Financial’s competitors have a beta of 0.80, meaning that their average stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Virtu Financial and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Virtu Financial	13.50%	49.06%	4.28%
Virtu Financial Competitors	321.05%	79.19%	3.72%

Summary

Virtu Financial beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Virtu Financial Company Profile

Virtu Financial, Inc., a financial services company, provides data, analytics, and connectivity products to clients worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Market Making and Execution Services. Its product suite includes offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, and multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. The company’s solutions enable clients to trade on various venues across countries and in multiple asset classes, including global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, futures, fixed income, cryptocurrencies, and other commodities. Its analytics platform provides a range of pre- and post-trade services, data products, and compliance tools for clients to invest, trade, and manage risk across markets. Virtu Financial, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in New York, New York.